Mary Berry's Bakewell Tart

Baking By jselle Updated 3 Aug 2017 , 10:05pm by kakeladi

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jselle Posted 22 Jul 2017 , 2:06am
post #1 of 17

Help! My daughter is trying to master Mary Berry's Bakewell Tart. Here's the link to the recipe: http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/marys_bakewell_tart_12584

She weighed carefully, and the final product tastes good, but aesthetically it leaves something to be desired. A crust formed on top of the frangipane, and it puffed up a bit. Then as it cooled, the crust cracked and the layer underneath sank. We were able to press it down and make it work, but I'm wondering what went wrong. We did our best to convert the Celsius temps to Fahrenheit, but we aren't sure why two different temps are given together in the recipe and what the fan settings mean. You can see the rough top through the glaze. Suggestions?

Mary Berry's Bakewell Tart

16 replies
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AAtKT Posted 22 Jul 2017 , 2:53am
post #2 of 17


The temperatures are listed as such for if you are or are not using convection... 200 C (no convection/fan) and 180 C (convection/fan)...

I presume the Gas # is for a gas oven setting I don't have on my oven here in the US...


As for why the almond base crusted, I cannot help... sorry...



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nmbakes Posted 27 Jul 2017 , 2:30am
post #3 of 17

The feathering in the tart is absolutely beautiful! Your daughter did a great job!

I haven't baked one of these before but I found Mary's recipe on the PBS website with temperatures in Fahrenheit. Maybe that'll help?

http://www.pbs.org/food/recipes/marys-bakewell-tart/

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jselle Posted 27 Jul 2017 , 2:42am
post #4 of 17

Thanks! She's going to give another shot tomorrow to see how it goes. I'll make sure she sees this. 

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nmbakes Posted 27 Jul 2017 , 2:48am
post #5 of 17

Please give us an update, I'd love to know how it goes smile I'm not sure if you watch the Great British Baking Show but they did this tart as technical challenge a few weeks ago.

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jselle Posted 27 Jul 2017 , 11:24am
post #6 of 17

We do indeed watch The Great British Baking Show, and that's where she got the idea to try this. A couple of seasons ago they did a Swedish Princess Cake, and that's next on our list. I'll post an update on the Bakewell Part Deux. :)

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nmbakes Posted 27 Jul 2017 , 12:49pm
post #7 of 17

Ah! I remember the Swedish Princess Cake. I love GBBO (even my husband loves it!) and often watch the previous seasons available in Netflix.

Has your daughter made other recipes from the show?

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jselle Posted 28 Jul 2017 , 11:49pm
post #8 of 17

So here's the latest iteration of a Bakewell. My daughter ditched the icing and replaced it with sliced almonds. She made a homemade lemon curd to use instead of the raspberry jam. It's still cooling but looks tasty!Mary Berry's Bakewell Tart

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nmbakes Posted 1 Aug 2017 , 4:16pm
post #9 of 17

Yum! That does look very tasty!!

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kakeladi Posted 1 Aug 2017 , 8:56pm
post #10 of 17

Uuumm just where do you live??  And what time can I come over???

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jselle Posted 1 Aug 2017 , 9:40pm
post #11 of 17

Lol--if you feel like road tripping to St. Louis I'm sure we can share. Tart #2 was delicious!

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jselle Posted 1 Aug 2017 , 9:40pm
post #12 of 17

Lol--if you feel like road tripping to St. Louis I'm sure we can share. Tart #2 was delicious!

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MBalaska Posted 1 Aug 2017 , 9:51pm
post #13 of 17

@jselle ‍ both of the tarts look delicious. Never having tasted frangipani filling it's inspiring me to try it myself.  The shows with Mary Berry & Paul Hollywood are fun.  Tell your daughter to keep up the good work!!  Try things that interest you and don't be concerned about experimenting and making your own recipes.  Amazon has the video on the 'MasterClass' with Mary & Paul where they pick things that were featured on the show and show how to do them properly with the full recipe.  It's a lovely tutorial.

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jselle Posted 1 Aug 2017 , 10:18pm
post #14 of 17

Thanks -- we will check out the videos. She really enjoyed experimenting, and I'm sending her back to her college apartment with her own tart pan!

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MBalaska Posted 2 Aug 2017 , 9:27am
post #15 of 17

did you like the tarts better with icing or just the almonds?

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jselle Posted 3 Aug 2017 , 1:19pm
post #16 of 17

We actually preferred the tart topped with the almonds. The first one with the raspberry jam and the icing was just so overwhelmingly sweet that it was hard to eat more than a bite or two. The second seemed to be just the right level of sweetness and was fantastic with a cup of hot tea!

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kakeladi Posted 3 Aug 2017 , 10:05pm
post #17 of 17

Hhuuummmm sounds like a road trip to St. L. should be planned :)   It's W A Y too hot here to even think of baking anything!  Over 100 degrees F for the past month and the same preticted for the forseeable future :)


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